Chapter 326: Solutions to the Problem
Led by Mavuika, the group handled the winding, dimly lit corridors behind the Holy Fire Arena until they reached a secluded stone chamber. The heavy stone door ground shut behind them, instantly severing the muffled roar of the crowds outside. The sudden quiet left the room's atmosphere thick and subtly tense.
Xilonen leaned against the cool stone wall, her leopard ears twitching as she took in the deeply serious expressions worn by Lumine and Paimon. Her brow furrowed, confusion bleeding into her usually laid-back demeanor. "What exactly do you need me here for? Why all the cloak-and-dagger mystery?"
Lumine and Paimon exchanged a brief, knowing glance.
Taking the cue, Paimon floated forward. She planted her tiny hands firmly on her hips, striking a pose of absolute, obvious authority, or at least, her best attempt at it. Despite her deliberately crafted sternness, her wide, starry eyes betrayed far more deep-seated worry than actual reproach.
"Xilonen!" Paimon's voice echoed off the stone walls, pitched a full octave lower than her usual squeak. "You are not being honest with us! And that is not very friendly at all! How could you just conveniently forget to mention that forging an Ancient Name for Lumine would eat up your own lifespan? If I had not picked up some new tricks recently, we would still be completely in the dark!"
"Wh...?" Xilonen's breath hitched. Her expression shattered. The gentle, confident smile she always wore vanished, replaced by a flash of raw, unadulterated shock. Her golden eyes widened, completely blindsided.
That split-second, subconscious reaction was all the confirmation they needed. Paimon's Appraisal Skill had not lied.
But Xilonen was a professional. The shock lingered for barely a heartbeat before her survival instincts kicked in. She rapidly smoothed out her features, forcing a relaxed, breezy grin back onto her face. She even injected a hint of playful exasperation into her tone, desperately trying to plaster over her momentary lapse in composure.
"Oh my, where in Teyvat did you pick up such ridiculous gossip?" She waved a hand dismissively, keeping her voice light and airy. "Forging an Ancient Name drains my lifespan? How could you believe something so absurd! Look at me." She gestured to herself. "I started learning the hammer and anvil when I was just a cub. I have guided, awakened, and forged Ancient Names for countless warriors. Do I look like I am dying? I am alive, kicking, and doing absolutely great!"
To prove her point, she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, the metallic ornaments on her outfit jingling cheerfully. Then, she cleared her throat, straightening her posture to adopt the wise, chiding demeanor of a responsible elder.
"Honestly, as a Traveler and a guide who have seen so much of this world, you two really need to learn how to filter your information. You cannot just swallow every wild rumor you hear and scare yourselves half to death!"
It was a stellar performance. Confident, grounded, and almost entirely convincing. Had Paimon's Appraisal Skill not explicitly highlighted terrifying core terms like 'consuming life essence', Xilonen's superb acting might have actually fooled them.
But armed with the absolute truth, Lumine and Paimon did not utter a single word of rebuttal. They did not argue. They did not nod.
They simply stood there. Silent. Unblinking.
Two pairs of eyes locked onto Xilonen with the piercing intensity of a physical weight. There was no anger in their gaze, only a quiet, suffocating knowing.
The air inside the stone chamber seemed to turn to lead.
Under the crushing focus of their stare, the forced, breezy smile on Xilonen's lips began to twitch. The corners of her mouth stiffened. She shifted her weight, trying to avert her gaze, desperately searching for a casual quip to shatter the agonizing silence. But every excuse she had queued up in her throat withered and died under Lumine's all-seeing golden eyes.
An invisible, mounting pressure clamped down on her shoulders. Within a dozen seconds, a thin sheen of cold sweat broke out across Xilonen's forehead. A distinct chill crept down her spine.
'This,'she realized with a swallow,'is way harder to deal with than deciphering the most complex Ancient Name phlogiston structures.'
Lumine did not let the master smith suffer under the interrogation spotlight for too long. Seeing Xilonen sweat away her last defenses erased any lingering doubts the Traveler might have held.
Lumine let out a soft, measured sigh, finally breaking the heavy quiet. Her voice was not loud, but it connected with an immovable, bedrock firmness.
"Xilonen, the act is over. We both know the truth now." Lumine's gaze softened, losing its interrogative edge, though her underlying resolve only hardened. "I understand you want to help a friend. And I am deeply, truly grateful for the gift you are trying to give me."
She took a slow step forward. "However, I absolutely refuse to let a friend sacrifice herself, even if it is just a potential risk, simply to further my goals or keep me safe. Doing so goes against everything I believe in. It betrays the very meaning of my journey across the stars."
Xilonen's chest tightened painfully. Panic flared in her chest. She immediately assumed Lumine was about to reject her aid entirely, or worse, hand back the Sacred Night's Journey Weave.
All her previous embarrassment and the crushing pressure evaporated, replaced by frantic urgency. She lunged forward, her hands raised in a pleading gesture.
"No! Lumine, you have to listen to me!" Xilonen's voice cracked with desperation. "The war with the Abyss is not over! Mavuika needs your strength, and Natlan needs you! When we push deeper into the Night Kingdom to rip the Abyss out by its roots, the danger is going to be magnitudes worse than anything we have faced!"
She gestured wildly. "The Sacred Night's Journey Weave, and the Ancient Name I plan to custom-forge for you... they are not just fancy titles! They are absolute necessities! They are the only guarantees that you will be able to adapt to Natlan's deepest ley lines, fight at your peak within the Night Kingdom, and actually survive when things go critical!"
"You cannot reject this just because of some vague lifespan rumors! The risk to Natlan, and to you, is too massive!"
Seeing the usually composed smith practically vibrating with anxiety, Paimon hurriedly zipped between them. She waved her tiny hands in a frantic, soothing motion.
"Whoa, whoa! Xilonen, take a breath! Do not get so worked up, just listen to us for a second!" Paimon urged. "Nobody is backing out! Fighting the Abyss, helping Mavuika, saving Natlan... Lumine and I are absolutely going to do our part! That has not changed one bit! But... but..."
Lumine stepped up beside her floating companion, smoothly taking over. Her tone was absolute, leaving zero room for debate. "But this responsibility, this battle... it will not be bought with a friend's life and future."
"I do not care how much power or safety it offers. As long as the foundation of that power is built on draining your life essence, I will not accept it."
"Yeah! Exactly what she said!" Paimon nodded so hard her crown nearly slipped. "Friends are for helping each other and going on fun, crazy adventures together! Not for sacrificing themselves!"
Xilonen opened her mouth, ready to argue the necessity of the sacrifice, but Lumine raised a hand, cutting her off instantly.
"If you insist that forging an Ancient Name for me is an unavoidable necessity..." Lumine began, her expression serene and entirely in control.
She extended her right hand, palm facing up. A brilliant flash of golden light illuminated the dim stone chamber.
When the light faded, two distinct items rested in her grasp.
The first was an archaic, thread-bound tome. The cover was worn but impeccably preserved, bearing the elegant calligraphy: Basic Qi Refinement Essentials.
The second was a cluster of starlight, a softly glowing, pure white orb of energy. It pulsed rhythmically against Lumine's palm, almost as if it possessed a heartbeat of its own, radiating an incredibly pure, gentle, and boundless vitality.
It was a Spirit Qi Seed. Lumine had painstakingly condensed it on the walk over to the arena, smoothly blending her own growing cultivation base with the esoteric techniques Zhongli had shared in the multiversal Chat Group.
"...Then, you have to accept this first," Lumine finished, offering the ancient manual and the pulsating seed of light to the stunned smith.
This was the exact countermeasure she and Paimon had cooked up on their way to the Holy Fire Arena.
If Xilonen's unique forging technique burned away her life essence, the solution was brutally simple: give her a method that would rapidly replenish, and eventually vastly multiply, her total lifespan.
The immortal cultivation system from the Chat Group, which had already started taking quiet root in certain corners of Teyvat, was the perfect, ready-made answer.
The reason Lumine opted to physically condense a Spirit Qi Seed rather than just handing over a manual was due to a recent discovery. She, Zhongli, and the other multiversal members had realized a frustrating limitation: the high-grade cultivation techniques and secret manuals distributed by the Chat Group carried a very specific, underlying restriction.
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